Hi I'm Lynley. I teach New Entrants at Alfriston School in Auckland. We have just started up an ICT team at our school and I'm a part of it (yay!) so will doing ongoing PD with Jacqui this year. I can't wait to get lots of new ideas for my classroom and my teaching :)
March & April Maths Wall Space One of my goals that Jacqui and I came up with is to continue to develop my curriculum area walls. This week I've been working on my maths area wall space. This is what I have so far... Frogs and lily pads to show what level each child is working at. As a school we are working on Visible Learning this year so this ties quite nicely into that too. Some maths words and pictures in the maths corner, specific for junior kids. The kids' favourite! Interactive shapes posters. I made 2 copies of each, cut out the shapes and words then added velcro so they can practise matching them.
Using the Projector Jacqui came to visit me again this week and suggested having some write and wipe (projector onto whiteboard) activities for my kids to do as a part of their maths/reading tumble. I started today with a dot-to-dot, it was a HUGE hit with my 5 year olds! I decided to put it up as morning work that the kids can do before the bell rings too. Here's a photo of them trying it out. I'm going to do a different dot-to-dot everyday for a week or so, then try out some different ideas (Watch this space! Got to get my thinking hat on!)
I also came across 'Games for the whole class' on Studyladder. There aren't many games on there yet but there is a great random alphabet/letter generator for bingo. Most of my class are still learning the alphabet so this is so perfect for them! It's awesome to have a variety of ways for them to learn the alphabet, and when it involves a game or the projector they all really get into it! They made their own 'bingo cards' on their small whiteboards. So far we've only done it twice so it takes a while for them to set up their whiteboard, but I'm sure they'll get faster as they practise it :) I'm hoping that they'll be able to do this by themselves in a small group (maybe next term!).
Maths Warm-up. In the past I have played 'Swat-a-fact' or similar on the whiteboard. Today I tried it on the projector and it worked so well! Even better than on the board because I won't have to write it up each time, instead just save the PPT. This is a great game because it can be used for just about any curriculum area! For my kids its perfect for learning numbers, letters and words. We play boys against girls...the kids with the fly swats race to swat the number I call out, then get a point if they get it first...easy and fun!
CLASSROOM SPACES To create secret spaces I've got a cute little castle tent and have put a 'roof' over the end of my reading area. The kids LOVE these spaces and they are almost always the first places filled up during quiet reading time. I am also super lucky because my class just got 3 Chrome books. Before that I only had 4 desktops, so the addition of three more computers is awesome! I have computers as a part of my reading and maths tumble, and now the kids can have 1 computer each instead of sharing so it's a big bonus! Because my kiddies are just New Entrants and there's always new ones starting, every few days we go over on the projector what they can do on the computers. Our class weebly is the homepage (http://room3alfriston.weebly.com/), so we practise navigating that and getting onto Studyladder and/or different games. It's also a bonus that they are portable so the kids can choose where they want to work on them.
February Learning Spaces Last time we met Jacqui she challenged us to have a look at our classroom and see if we could make some different learning spaces, instead of the tradtional 'open' classroom. I did find this a challenge because I really did love my 'open' classroom where I could see all my kiddies and make sure they weren't getting up to mischeif! I've pulled out some of shelves away from the walls to create smaller spaces where a few kids can work and they love it (photos to come). It's still a work in progress and I will continue to challenge myself as the year goes on to see what else I can change.
Jacqui suggested not having set tables where the kids have to sit, but rather letting them choose their learning space, whether it be at a table, on the floor, at a kneeling table etc. At the moment I still have my kids sitting with a seating plan but I'm giving them more freedom to choose where they do their work during some activities and they think it's so special!
A quick look at my class website If you're interesed you can check out my class website at www.room3alfriston.weebly.com If you've been thinking about making a website for your class but haven't got round to it yet I'd recommend using Weebly to help you design you site. It's super easy and straight-forward, pretty much just like making a powerpoint presentation!
Hi I'm Lynley. I teach New Entrants at Alfriston School in Auckland. We have just started up an ICT team at our school and I'm a part of it (yay!) so will doing ongoing PD with Jacqui this year. I can't wait to get lots of new ideas for my classroom and my teaching :)
March & April
Maths Wall Space
One of my goals that Jacqui and I came up with is to continue to develop my curriculum area walls. This week I've been working on my maths area wall space. This is what I have so far...
Frogs and lily pads to show what level each child is working at. As a school we are working on Visible Learning this year so this ties quite nicely into that too.
Some maths words and pictures in the maths corner, specific for junior kids.
The kids' favourite! Interactive shapes posters.
I made 2 copies of each, cut out the shapes and words then added velcro so they can practise matching them.
Using the Projector
Jacqui came to visit me again this week and suggested having some write and wipe (projector onto whiteboard) activities for my kids to do as a part of their maths/reading tumble. I started today with a dot-to-dot, it was a HUGE hit with my 5 year olds! I decided to put it up as morning work that the kids can do before the bell rings too. Here's a photo of them trying it out. I'm going to do a different dot-to-dot everyday for a week or so, then try out some different ideas (Watch this space! Got to get my thinking hat on!)
I also came across 'Games for the whole class' on Studyladder. There aren't many games on there yet but there is a great random alphabet/letter generator for bingo. Most of my class are still learning the alphabet so this is so perfect for them! It's awesome to have a variety of ways for them to learn the alphabet, and when it involves a game or the projector they all really get into it! They made their own 'bingo cards' on their small whiteboards. So far we've only done it twice so it takes a while for them to set up their whiteboard, but I'm sure they'll get faster as they practise it :) I'm hoping that they'll be able to do this by themselves in a small group (maybe next term!).
Maths Warm-up. In the past I have played 'Swat-a-fact' or similar on the whiteboard. Today I tried it on the projector and it worked so well! Even better than on the board because I won't have to write it up each time, instead just save the PPT. This is a great game because it can be used for just about any curriculum area! For my kids its perfect for learning numbers, letters and words. We play boys against girls...the kids with the fly swats race to swat the number I call out, then get a point if they get it first...easy and fun!
CLASSROOM SPACES
To create secret spaces I've got a cute little castle tent and have put a 'roof' over the end of my reading area. The kids LOVE these spaces and they are almost always the first places filled up during quiet reading time.
I am also super lucky because my class just got 3 Chrome books. Before that I only had 4 desktops, so the addition of three more computers is awesome! I have computers as a part of my reading and maths tumble, and now the kids can have 1 computer each instead of sharing so it's a big bonus!
Because my kiddies are just New Entrants and there's always new ones starting, every few days we go over on the projector what they can do on the computers. Our class weebly is the homepage (http://room3alfriston.weebly.com/), so we practise navigating that and getting onto Studyladder and/or different games. It's also a bonus that they are portable so the kids can choose where they want to work on them.
February
Learning Spaces
Last time we met Jacqui she challenged us to have a look at our classroom and see if we could make some different learning spaces, instead of the tradtional 'open' classroom. I did find this a challenge because I really did love my 'open' classroom where I could see all my kiddies and make sure they weren't getting up to mischeif! I've pulled out some of shelves away from the walls to create smaller spaces where a few kids can work and they love it (photos to come). It's still a work in progress and I will continue to challenge myself as the year goes on to see what else I can change.
Jacqui suggested not having set tables where the kids have to sit, but rather letting them choose their learning space, whether it be at a table, on the floor, at a kneeling table etc. At the moment I still have my kids sitting with a seating plan but I'm giving them more freedom to choose where they do their work during some activities and they think it's so special!
A quick look at my class website
If you're interesed you can check out my class website at www.room3alfriston.weebly.com
If you've been thinking about making a website for your class but haven't got round to it yet I'd recommend using Weebly to help you design you site. It's super easy and straight-forward, pretty much just like making a powerpoint presentation!